I went home to my mom’s house in Gulfport, Mississippi on Sunday. She had just finished the last of the repairs to the house, so she was having a little get together to celebrate. My boyfriend and I actually evacuated to my mom’s home from New Orleans last year and rode out Hurricane Katrina there, just twelve miles inland or so. It was quite the experience, believe me.
I took a little detour on my way home and drove down the beach on Highway 90 through Pass Christian, Long Beach and downtown Gulfport. I saw this same stretch of beachfront property for the first time after Katrina in mid-October, when the National Guard was still restricting access to this area and you had to have authorization to go any further south than the railroad tracks. It looks somewhat better than back then…there was a little stretch of
fancy homes that have been built since last fall. They were built further back and higher off of the ground than their predecessors had been, though. The barge that had been pushed on shore near Gulfport harbor has been removed, and work is well underway on some of the casinos. The SS Camille, a tugboat that was washed ashore during Hurricane Camille in 1969 and later became a tourist stop, was unmoved by Katrina, although the giftshop next to it was wiped away.
It’s weird to drive down the beach at home now. I try to look for where my favorite restaurants or friends’ homes used to be…I can figure out the general locations, but it’s often hard to pinpoint exactly where things were, because all of the landmarks are gone.
You can see more of my pictures from the Mississippi beach here. The Sun Herald, the daily newspaper for the MS Gulf Coast, also has a huge archive of before and after pictures taken all along the Coast.
I’m afraid this is about as much of an anniversary post as I’m planning to make now. I’ve been trying to keep my head up, looking forward, and moving on. Focusing on the positive and what’s to come. I just wanted to make sure that some of the attention remains on the MS Gulf Coast, considering most of the media blitz will focus on New Orleans. There are plenty of NOLA bloggers who I’m sure will be able to eloquently sum up their thoughts on the state of New Orleans one year later. To me, the Mississippi Coast and New Orleans are equal parts my home…I love the entire Gulf Coast region. I’m just hoping for a speedy recovery and trying to be a part of that recovery as much as possible.
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Oh my! It must have been terrifying for you! My heart is with MS also as I grew up in central MS. I well remember Camille - I was 9 yrs old - and my dad (who worked for the power co) spent about 6 weeks there working on the power lines. He’s been retired for several years but went back to work to help with the power failures in central MS after Katrina.(He knows every dirt road in Winston, Nashoba and surrounding counties!)
May I say I just love your website! I am so excited to have found someone with so much knowledge of indie artists and businesses. Would love to do an online interview with you for my blog! Think about it.
Left by TravelingMermaid on September 1st, 2006